The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to electronic photography. More specifically, the invention relates to a digital camera that can be interfaced with a host computer.
Digital cameras, such as the Kodak Digital Science DC25(trademark) camera, allow images to be utilized on a home computer (PC) and to be incorporated into e-mail documents and personal home pages on the World Wide Web. Presently, if a print is desired, each image must first be copied to the PC and then individually printed. The user is required to manually select each image to be printed, and manually decide how big each print should be and how many prints to make of each image.
In addition, it is possible for users to electronically send images to others using software, such as the Kodak Digital Science Picture Postcard Software(trademark). However, this again requires the user to manually download each image to the host computer, select each image to be transmitted, and create a new xe2x80x9cPostcardxe2x80x9d for each image to be sent. Users can also create xe2x80x9calbumsxe2x80x9d of photos on their computers using software such as the Family Album Creator(trademark) by Creative Wonders, Inc. Again, however, this is a manual process that requires each image to be downloaded to the computer, individually selected, and added to the album.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,659, reprint information can be generated at the time a PhotoCD disc is played back. This patent describes an EEPROM card that can be inserted into a PhotoCD player. As shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 6 of this patent, the EEPROM card can contain reprint order information and xe2x80x9calbum discxe2x80x9d information input by the player operator. However, this information is not generated at the time of picture taking, and is not stored on the same media as the images. Moreover, the reprint information does not include information useful to the service provider, such as user account, charge card, mailing address, etc.
What is needed is a way for camera users to quickly and easily compose xe2x80x9cprint ordersxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctransmission ordersxe2x80x9d and/or xe2x80x9celectronic albumingxe2x80x9d orders, at the time they capture their images.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the present invention, the camera and system of our invention meets this need by allowing the user to select xe2x80x9cdownstreamxe2x80x9d services at the time of capture, using the camera""s LCD screen and user interface. The digital camera includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) for viewing images captured from a CCD sensor and stored on a removable memory card. The LCD also presents a user interface (UI) that allows the user to create a print order xe2x80x9cutilization filexe2x80x9d. As individual images are viewed, the user can decide how many (if any) prints to make of the image, the print size, and the print quality (low cost ink jet versus high quality thermal prints, for example). The memory card can then be inserted in a home printer, walk-up kiosk, or dropped off/mailed to a photofinisher, or the camera itself can be connected to the printer or kiosk via a wired or wireless (e.g., IrDA) link. The print order can then be automatically produced without any additional user intervention.
Alternately, a modem in the camera or card reader can transmit the utilization file and the image data to a print service provider, which can produce the prints and return them via mail to the user, or to a party designated by the user. The utilization file can alternately include e-mail addresses to allow images to be automatically sent to others, postal address information for sending print images, or albuming information to allow images to be placed in an on-line image database.